Leatherwood, Ferrell have a lot on the line Friday night

Alex Leatherwood and Cle Ferrell, two controversial first-round picks of Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock, may be playing for their roster spots Friday against the New England Patriots in the Raiders’ final preseason game.

The 5:15 pm kickoff at Allegiant Stadium is not expected to feature many of the Raiders’ key players. Their two days of joint practices against the Patriots this week provided ample opportunity for Josh McDaniels and his staff to get a handle on most of the big roster decisions.

That said, there is an expectation that some players fighting for roster spots or on a developmental track will see action.

That includes Leatherwood, who so far in training camp has failed to win the starting job at right tackle, and Ferrell, who just returned to practice this week after a prolonged absence dealing with an undisclosed injury.

Their performances on Friday could determine their futures with the Raiders, if those futures haven’t already been decided.

Here are three things to keep an eye on:

Will Leatherwood play?

The Raiders used the first three preseason games to try to sort out their offensive line in and around Pro Bowl left tackle Kolton Miller. That meant a ton of experimenting with several line combinations and some players taking snaps at three different positions.

It’s been an exhausting process, but the significance of getting the offensive line squared away can’t be understated. Quite frankly, the success of Raiders’ offense depends on the play from the players up front.

This leads us to Leatherwood, whose performance in camp has has left the Raiders with a decision about how to proceed with their 2021 first-round pick.

Leatherwood has lost starting snaps to Brandon Parker, Thayer Munford and Jermaine Eluemunor throughout camp, and it will be interesting to see if he plays significant snaps on Friday. Especially if Miller, Dylan Parham, Andre James and Eluemunor are on the sideline watching.

That will be a clear signal of how far Leatherwood has fallen and the magnitude of the fight he faces to keep his spot on the roster.

Last stand for Ferrell?

The time Raiders defensive lineman Ferrell missed with an injury cost him valuable reps and the opportunity to impress his new defensive bosses and claim a role in a new defensive scheme.

It has been a steady slide for Ferrell, who has never lived up to the hype as the fourth overall pick in the 2019 draft. The Raiders were universally panned for selecting the former Clemson standout as high as they did.

While Ferrell had no control over his draft spot, he’s had to listen to that criticism from the first day he showed up to work.

Now working with his third defensive coordinator — fourth if you count Rod Marinelli’s interim stint in 2020 after Paul Guenther was fired — Ferrell is coming off a season in which his snap count dropped to 261 after playing 461 the season before.

While he isn’t expected to play much more than that in 2022 — if he even makes the team — there is a skill set there that, if applied and used correctly, could produce solid reps as a rotational player.

Something to prove

The Raiders face a number of difficult decisions getting down from 80 players to 53 next week.

Brittain Brown, for instance, has continued to push forward at running back. His play thus far makes you wonder if the Raiders would be taking a big risk in cutting him, on the hope of bringing him back to the practice squad, only to see another team scoop him up.

Jackson Barton, the young offensive tackle from Utah, has continued to impress as a swing tackle able to play on the left and right sides.

If the Raiders opt to keep five wide receivers, the last roster spot likely comes down to Tyron Johnson and DJ Turner, although the solid play of both could mean the Raiders keep six wide receivers.

On defense, rookie undrafted free agents Luke Masterson (LB), Darien Butler (LB), Sam Webb (CB) and Isaiah Pola-Mao (S) have all played well in camp and the preseason to plant themselves on the Raiders’ radar, be it for a spot on the 53-man roster or practice squad.

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on Twitter.